France’s growing German skepticism
Britain’s favorite Frenchman, Michel Barnier, is in the Calais region
today where he will address a conference about his part in Brexit and
perhaps give a further indication as to his presidential aspirations.
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator was described in yesterday’s Le Figaro as
the man who can ‘unite the right’ and in doing so present a credible
alternative to Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen in 2022.
Barnier presides over a political initiative called Patriotes et européens and he explained its concept to Le Figaro: ‘Patriot
and European, this means that I believe in the force of the nations,
the respect of national identities and France as a country of influence
at the head of the European nations.’
What Barnier and a great many of the political class in France fail to
understand is the shift in attitude towards the EU in the last year.
There is the manner in which COVID has exposed the incompetency and
disunity at the heart of the EU, and undoubtedly Brexit has shown
the Euroskeptic French that it is possible to escape the tyranny of the
EU. Protracted, as 17.4 million Britons will testify, but possible with
enough determination.
But there’s another reason why the French have fallen out of love
with the EU, and that’s Germany. Last November a German journalist for Die Zeit caused
something of a stir in France when she ridiculed the country’s handling
of coronavirus (this was before Germany’s own confused response to a
second wave), dubbing France ‘Absurdistan’.
Increasingly, however, the French people are realizing that the real
absurdity is believing Germany still values France and is committed to
the EU project. The French people might be coming to this realization,
but the political class retains an ardent faith in the Franco-German
relationship, rather like those in Westminster who quaintly believe
Britain enjoys a ‘special relationship’ with the USA.
The current affairs magazine Marianne recently devoted an issue to this delusion entitled
‘How Germany has fleeced France’, chronicling the ways —
agriculturally, militarily and industrially — that Germany has exploited
France in recent decades. In 1980 France’s GDP per capita was 5
percent inferior to Germany’s; today it is 13 percent.
In a radio interview, editor Natacha Polony said
that she wasn’t surprised by the angry reaction her magazine received:
‘We have an elite who are so in thrall to our German neighbors that the
moment anyone legitimately defends our national interests, the elite cry
“Germanophobia”.’
Marianne was just the latest publication to question what
exactly France gains from its ‘partnership’ with Germany. Last year,
when France dispatched a naval force to the Mediterranean to assist
Greece in their clash with Turkey, it was noted that Germany did not
support its European allies. ‘In the European team,’ said Le Figaro at the time, ‘Germany is at once the captain and a player who scores against its own side when it’s in its interest.’
Examples abound: the 2015 migrant crisis, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and Germany’s refusal
in 2012 to agree to a merger between Dutch airspace conglomerate EADS
NV and Britain’s BAE Systems to create the world’s biggest aerospace and
defense group. France was enthusiastic but Germany pulled the plug
because it feared that it would be bad for German industry.
Last month the conservative magazine, Valuers Acteulles described
Germany as the ‘tyrant of the EU’, a reaction sparked by Germany’s
decision to implement border checks in eastern France after a spike in
COVID cases. It listed examples of how Angela Merkel has mastered the
art of acting in her country’s own interest, particularly when it comes
to China. The magazine mocked Emmanuel Macron for his naivety in
believing France means anything to Germany, a country that ‘prostitutes
its industry to the best customer’.
Macron has always been starry-eyed in the presence of Merkel, never
more so than in January 2019 when he signed a treaty in Aachen with the
German chancellor. The official blurb proclaimed that the treaty would
deepen cooperation between the two powers in foreign affairs, defense,
development and security. But it was attacked by right-wing politicians
such as Marine Le Pen and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. The latter, who allied
with Le Pen in the 2017 election, accused the president of having been
taken for a ride by Merkel. ‘Berlin has been hooked on the US military
since 1945 and has never honored its commitment to spend two percent of
its GDP on military spending,’ he said.
‘France has invested hundreds of billions of euros more than Germany in
its armed forces…what will Germany offer in return to France outside
bouquets of flowers for November 11? Nothing.’
Two and a half years later Dupont-Aignan’s opinion has gone
mainstream — this will pose a problem for Macron ahead of next year’s
election. Marine Le Pen was trounced by Macron in the 2017 presidential
debate but she produced the best line of the evening in declaring: ‘France will be led by a woman. Either me or Madame Merkel.’
Macron entered the Elysée believing that he and Merkel would be the
power couple of Europe but ‘Mutti’ always does what’s best for Germany.
So instead of spending his days bashing Britain over Brexit, Macron should break free from his toxic relationship with Germany. It’s harming him and his country.
